


It was a dark and stormy night

by turtles_to_the_max



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-04 23:19:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18353780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtles_to_the_max/pseuds/turtles_to_the_max
Summary: Petunia Dursley is about to give birth.There's a storm, and no matter how many times Vernon shouts for the bloody midwives to just bloody walk, help is unreachable.Meanwhile, Lily's sister alarms are going off on full blast.There are only two problems:1. James Potter hates only one man in the world more than Severus Snape, and that man is Vernon Dursley; the feeling is mutual.2. Lily is 7 months pregnant herself.Well, kin is kin, right? Right?





	It was a dark and stormy night

It was a dark and stormy night.  
Petunia and Vernon Dursley of Number Four, Privet Drive, did not care in the slightest. They had other things on their mind.  
"You feeling all right, Petunia?" Vernon asked gruffly.  
Petunia smiled, caressing her swollen stomach in the soft lamplight. "Of course I am, Vernon. Just think: in a few days maximum, you're going to be a proud father!"  
Vernon fidgeted. "It's already two weeks late. I don't know, Petunia... I don't have a good feeling about this."  
A flash of lightning illuminated the neighbourhood, and Petunia peered out of the window as much as her pregnant belly would let her. "Hm, looks like Mrs Stoney's tree branch has broken off."  
Vernon grunted. A gasp from Petunia made him turn around.  
"Good heavens, Vernon!" she shrieked. "Look... the electric wires! From the tree branch! They're down!"  
The lights in the room flickered ominously once, then died.  
"Oh, Vernon!" Petunia gasped, clutching his arm. "There's no power! How will we ever - "  
"If this is the government's fault..." Vernon muttered. Meanwhile, Petunia was getting steadily more hysterical.  
"Vernon! What ever shall we do?" Her face turned pale. "Vernon, what if - what if it's some of her lot that's doing this to us? What if they want to - to harm our Dudders? We're helpless! Vernon, what if - "  
"Relax, Petunia," said Vernon. "I'm sure everything will turn out just fine."  
Petunia whimpered and squeezed his arm yet more tightly. "If you're sure..."

***

"Oh crap, there goes the power," said James. "Lumos!"  
His wand tip lit up in the darkened room, re-illuminating Lily's face. Her green eyes sparkled in the bright light, making James' stomach give a little somersault; they had been married for a year already, and he still couldn't help but smile when he looked at his wife. And now in a few months, he would have one more to worry about. He glanced down at Lily's round belly, thinking about the child inside, slowly developing in the safety of its mother's womb. James had vowed to do his very best to be a good father to the child, but still he worried that he wouldn't be around as much as he should to watch his child grow; being in the anti-Voldemort movement meant constantly exposing oneself to danger, and if anything were to happen to him -  
"Hello? James?"  
James looked up to see his wife grinning at him. "You seemed a little lost," she said. "My face is up here, in case you forgot."  
James smiled back. "Yes, but hers isn't." He pointed at Lily's stomach.  
"His face, not hers, James. I know it's going to be a boy, I can just feel it."  
James leaned back on the couch, putting his arm around Lily's shoulder. "Fine, his face, then. What do you think he'll look like?"  
Lily paused for a moment. "Hmm... I'm personally hoping he gets your hair, James. Dark red hair on a boy would be a pretty odd look."  
"Hopefully it won't be as messy as mine, though." James ran a hand through his black hair, making it stand up even more on end than it already was. "Then again, if he does inherit my Quidditch talent..."  
Lily shoved him playfully. "We can only hope that he'll turn out to have a slightly smaller head than yours, in any case."  
James laughed. "With all of his mother's brains inside it? Impossible!"  
Lily blushed. "Oh, shut up. What about his eyes?"  
"Green," said James instantly. "Hazel eyes are nice and all, but they're practically never offered as an option for those little boxes you tick off. I've been calling my eyes 'brown' my entire life."  
"Never mind appearance or personality or genetics or anything, that's your reason for choosing green?"  
James shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a practical guy."  
Lily smirked. "Well, we'd better hope he doesn't inherit your bad eyesight along with your eyes."  
James sat up indignantly. "My eyesight is not that bad!"  
"Oh, really?" Lily teased. "Catch me if you can!" She grabbed James' glasses off his face, rendering him virtually blind. The room was now nothing but a dark smudge, and he fumbled helplessly to get his glasses back.  
All of the sudden, he saw a flash of red! Lily's bright hair had given her away. He waited for just a second to throw her off guard, then lunged - and got an armful of something hairy and squirming, which yowled in protest when he grabbed it. This was followed by a large and painful scratch on his right hand, which started to bleed.  
"That's the cat, dear." His wife's amused voice came from the other side of the room. "Dare I suggest that you might have bad eyesight after all?"  
"Oh, shut up," grumbled James.

***

Petunia had settled on to Vernon's chest, hands clasped around his large neck. Every few minutes, large thunderclaps would echo through the room, making her jump and shiver. At one particularly loud one, she jumped up with a gasp. "VERNON!"  
"It's okay, Petunia, it's only thunder, don't worry, it can't hurt you -"  
"No! Vernon! My water's breaking!"  
Vernon swore loudly. "Of course, it has to happen now... okay, go lie down while I phone the midwives." He picked up the telephone and pressed the number, but nothing happened, no ring tone, no lighting up of the screen, no anything. He dialed again angrily, but there was still nothing. "Bloody midwives not on duty?" he murmured. "What the blazes - "  
"Oh, Vernon," Petunia whispered, sick with fear, "the phone line must be down! We're going to have to do this all alone... oh, dear God, what is happening to us?"  
Vernon started to sweat, the colour draining from his face. "I don't know..."  
All of the sudden, a wave of pain flooded Petunia so bad that she nearly passed out. She cried out and her husband came running, looking terrified. "Petunia..."  
"I'm - okay - Vernon - " she managed to gasp, but then another wave passed over her and she screamed again.  
"And we're all alone..." Vernon murmured. "Somebody, help us, please..."  
Petunia started to cry. "What if I die, Vernon? What if I die and our son has to grow up without a mother? I'm so scared..."  
"All alone," Vernon kept mumbling. "We're all alone..." There was a flash of lightning followed immediately by a huge thunderclap, illuminating both their terrified faces.

***

Meanwhile, James and Lily had taken out a blanket and were snuggling together under it for warmth - it was an uncharacteristically cold, rainy night and the heating was down. They were curled up next to each other, Lily's head on James' shoulder and his arms around her.  
All of the sudden, Lily sat up straight. "James, I need to go."  
James looked up sleepily. "What? Why? Where?"  
"My sister. She's in trouble."  
"But... how do you know?"  
"My sister alarms are going off on high alert. She's in trouble, James."  
James sat up. "Sister alarms? What..."  
"It's a sister thing, you wouldn't know, you're an only child. I need to go."  
James grabbed her arm. "And you're just going? Just like that? You have no idea what she might be facing! Robbers, earthquakes, who knows? Lily... you're seven months pregnant. Can you maybe think this through a little more?"  
Lily shook him off. "James, I need to go. Now."  
"Then let me go with you!" James said. "I can protect you if you need me. I'd feel a lot better about it if I could help you with whatever's going on."  
Lily hesitated for a brief moment, then nodded. James looped his arm through hers, and together they apparated to the doorstep of the house that Lily had not set foot in for three years.

***

Another spasm of pain racked Petunia's upper body for the millionth time, and she cried out again. Vernon was in full panic mode, running around helplessly while the rain pounded on their roof, every few minutes re-dialling the phone and hanging up again when no one answered.  
There was a knock on the door.  
Vernon yanked the door open to see a pair of bright green eyes staring back at him from a pale face framed by soggy red hair. "What do you want?"  
From the bedroom, Petunia screamed again.  
"Petunia!" the woman cried, bursting past Vernon and into the house.  
Standing behind her was a tall, dark haired man with round glasses and a thin face. "James Potter," he said, sticking out a hand. "How do you do?"

"Hey, Tuney," said a familiar voice. "Are you okay?"  
Petunia looked up to see her younger sister looking concernedly at her, her belly swollen and round.  
"Lily?" she managed to croak. "What the... how..."  
Lily pulled out her wand. "I've come to help you." She knelt down by the side of the bed. "Don't worry, you're going to be okay."  
The door blasted open and Vernon stormed in. "Who are you?"

**Author's Note:**

> if you can read this, i'm not done


End file.
